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Jesus (or Jess) Franco (born May 12, 1930 as Jesús Franco Manera) is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. While never having found wide commercial success, Franco has nevertheless retained a small (but faithful) cult following with his sexually-charged horror movies. His output was very prolific during the 1960s through to the late 1980s, but he has slowed down since then. Some of his most popular titles are Gritos en la noche (1961), Miss Muerte (1965), Necronomicon - Geträumte Sünden (1967), The Castle of Fu Manchu (1968), Justine (1968), Vampyros Lesbos (1970), Christina, princesse de l'érotisme (1971), La comtesse noire (1973), Frauengefängnis (1975), Die Liebesbriefe einer Portugiesischen Nonne (1977), Oasis of the Zombies (1981) and Faceless (1988).

Franco has also worked under innumerable pseudonyms, including David Khune and Frank Hollmann. A big fan of jazz music (and a musician himself), many of his pseudonyms are taken from famous jazz musicians, such as Clifford Brown and James P. Johnson.

Franco's themes often revolved around lesbian vampires, women in prison, and sexual exploration (including several films based on the writings of Marquis de Sade). His movies often contained lengthy scenes of nude women writhing uncontrollably on the floor or in bed, for minutes at a time, in uninterupted shots (such as in Lorna The Exorcist and La comtesse noire, among others). He has also worked in other exploitation film genres, such as cannibal films and nunsploitation.

He has frequently worked with actors Howard Vernon, Antonio Mayans, Paul Müller, Christopher Lee, Lina Romay (his wife) and Klaus Kinski. Kinski is famous for his dislike of directors, but according to Franco, he never had any trouble working with him.